Method and apparatus for scoring and cutting cardboard



Oct. 10, 19 50 DALS-EMER 7 2,524,962

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SCORING AND CUTTING CARDBOARD 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Jan. 19,, 1946 Oct. 10, 1 v EMER 2,524,962

METHOD APPARATUS FOR SCORING AND CUTTING CARDBOARD Filed Jan. 19, 1946 2 Sheets-Shet 2 0 v BY ATTORN EY INVENTOR dardmjlfialsrm Patented Oct. 10, 1950 METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SCORING AND CUTTING CARDBOARD Gordon HaDalsemer, Baltimore, Md. Application January 19, 1946, Serial No. 642,350

This invention relates to the cutting andscoring of'material such as cardboard and paperand book covers, and is herein-illustrated in some 3 detail as embodied in a device and process for cardboard in making a cardboardbox or carton.

It has hitherto been customary to scorecard-1 board by running it-between a hard metal male die and a hand out female die, cut to cooperate with the male die. In setting upthe usual flat bed-cylinder machine to do a definite form of scoring, a large piece of; hard, solid, manilaboard, called a counter sheet hasbeengpasted to the surface of a metal jacket which is bolted jacket serves as a removable surface for-the cylinder and as a carrier for the counter sheet,ad-.

die for creasing. To enable the cutting to be done accurately by workmenit has been customary to mark :guide lines for cutting on'the surface of the counter sheet-by operating the machine with a piece of carbon paper between the the scoring die. Thus an impression of the die is made on the surface of the counter sheetas a guide in cutting away the counter sheet to form r the female die. The creasing die portions form a heavy line and the cutting die portions formentirely to expose the steel surface where the fine lines have been made by the cutting dies.- Generally one end of a cuttin die abuts the end a of a creasing die. If the creasing female channel. is oil center at that point, the crease in the cardportion and causes difiicultv in folding, particularly in machine folding. The scores should be of uniform width and exactly centered over the scoring rule. Scores or. creases that-are too wide cause the boxesto fold crookedly when passing 45 through a gluing machine. Scores which are 'too 1 narrow or off center cause the box to crack when l folded. Thus the cuttingof' the counter sheet to form the female die requires highly skilled workmen. The work has to be done on the 5 from unwanted spots (where knives must hit 55 15 Claims. (01. 93-58) the metal jacket) often takes nearly as longas cutting the score channels.

According to 'thefpresent invention the fore )going and other difliculties and objections are scoring cardboard preparatory to folding the. 5

overcome and a material or device is provided which enables suitablefemale creasing dies or channels to be built on the steel skin'by. rela tively unskilled labor, and to be accurately posirate strip of'channelled-flexible material; which I I may be regarded as'a tape, and suitable lengths to the periphery of the cylinder. The metal 15 of the tape are adapted to be cut off and applied to the steel skin,,so that thechannel'provides the female die as soon as applied'to the steel jacket.- p F The flexible tape may include two upstanding strips of suflicient width toprovide the needed I support on both sides of the channel between them, but the strips are preferably no wider than is needed to provide the necessary strength to resist the strains induced by creasing the board surface of the counter sheet on the cylinder and 25 a ed 0n. ythecutting of han 'els is avoided. The strip of channelled flexible ma-: 5 terial is readily and economically produced by providing a strippable temporary backing on one adhesive face of pressure sensitive adhesive tape,

and applying a pair of spaced strips of suitable material forming a pair of shoulders, preferably hard linen-or plastic, lengthwise of the other side, so that the creasing rule may crease a cardboard sheet by pressing it in the channel between the strips. a. i

So long as the temporary backing l es on the back and the strips lie on the front the flexible ta e may be handled and shipped safely. When it is desired to use the flexible tape for preparing" board box blank does not register withthe cut a ma erea y, h p is 0111? to a p pe l th,

- usually .at a angle at each end, and the backing removed. The backing is either removed in advance, or removed a little at a time as the bare flex ble tape with its spaced cardboard steel jacket preferably has a thin-sheet of paper,

preferably news print pacer, pa ted to it in .order to facilitate application of the tape.

workman can see the lines on the paper covered steel jacket which indicates creaselines.

It may be noted that the crease lines are pref erably marked on the news print :sheet carried 1 by the jacket steel by carbon paper, as by placing The adhesive tape is preferably transparent so the female scoring die.

a blank cardboard on the fiat-bed male die, placing a carbon sheet on that, and then operatingthe press as if to score the cardboard, with the result that the male die scoring rules marks the proper lines for the channels of the The workman lays the bared flexible strip on those lines, ignoring any of the lines the cutting knives may have made through a the carbon paper. The bared adhesive seizes the sheet of news on contact and holds the strip in place.

Thus the adhesive tape, carrying the two spaced,

strips enables the rapid laying out and forming of the makeready, especially if the'adhesive tape which carries the strips is transparent.

An object of the invention is to provide a simple and economical method of providing a creas-" ing'female die makeready used in making cardboard boxes and the like.

Another object of the invention is to provide a method of providin a makeready without requiring .the services of askilled workman.

Another object of the ainventionis to obtain-" the hitherto unobtainable uniform score-width,

Another object of the-invention is to provide ing upper cylinder [3 of a flat bed press, between which sheets of cardboard are fed to form box blanks similar to that shown in Fig. 6. The fiat bed It] carries cutting knives H and creasing rules i2 commonly called the cutting and creasing dies. The cylinder is carries the make-ready with channels l9, which will be described hereinafter, as the female die for the SCOIlIlg rules l2. The cutting knives l I operating adjacent the cylinder 13 cut out a foldable box blank and the scoring rules i2 cooperate with the channels 53 on the surface of the cylinder iii to compress the fold lines I! in the blank M (Fig. 6).

According to the present invention, the creasingmakeready on the surface of the cylinder 53 may take the form of a channeled flexible strip [8, cut in suitable lengths, if desired, and preferably having a transparent bottom 23 for the channel 19. In the form shown the bottom of the channel l9 may take the form of the central portion of a transparent pressure sensitive tape 20 of the type known as Scotch tape, which adheres by contact. but is shown as adhesively carrying along each edge anupstanding strip 26 of hard'suitable material to form shoulders about inch wide and-nearly inch thick, so that the two strips 26 leave between them, the channel l9 about 7% inch wide.

' and it will'be-convenient'to carry several types a readily handled strip having a' channel suitf able as a female die makeready.

Another object of the invention is to provide a'strip of flexible tape-'foriorming a prepared female die having a transparent section enabling the workman. .to seethrough the section the line to'which it is "applied.

Other and further objects of the inventionwill be" obvious upon an understanding-pf the illustrative embodiment about to be described, or; will scription and is shown in the accompanying drawings, forming a part of the specification, wherein:

Fig. l is a fragmentary view of one form of flat bed "male die and its cooperating creasing and cutting roll;

Fig; 2 shows a projection 'partly broken away of the male dies for cutting and creasing acardboard blank;

Fig. 3 shows a similar projection of the female creasing dies partly broken away;

Fig. 4 shows 'a cutoff length of the'flexible female die stripi Fig. 5 is a section along the line 5-5 of Fig. 4;

Fig. 6 is a plan View of a cut and creased cardboard blank; and

Fig. 7 is a section on the line 1-1 of Fig. 6 showing the dies in position for, forming the blank.

Referring again to the drawings illustrating a preferred-embodiment of the invention and one way of performing the method, there is shown in Figs. 1 and 7 a-flat bed I 0 and the cooperat of tape in stock.

In the form shown the flexible strip 58 is normally adhesive on itsback-22"and is protected' F against accidental sticking while handling or shipping-by an easily strippable backing. 23 of When the strip Ill isto be applied to the Jacket of the cylinder [3, the jacket is usually first cov 'ered with paper, preferably a blank white news sheet 24 pasted on it which is often satisfactory at 0.003 inch in thickness. board (not shown) is laid on the flat bed Ii! covered with carbon paper, carbon side and "thecylinder 13 given a rotation soas to mark on the news sheet 24 the lines ofthe'croasingrules I2 and incidentally thelines of the cutting knives H. The dummy sheet of cardboard is desirable because the distance between the die and the surface of the upper cylinder is too great for the die to engage the carbon paper without the cardboard backing. j v

The pressman then cuts off a length 25 (Fig. l) of flexible strip l8, for example, the length of the creasing rule [2, with the ends cut to a suitin. the center of the channel l9, and its adhesive back holds it there. This simple afiixing of that' length 25 forms the female die for that line.

The workman similarly cuts oif other lengths of the flexible strip I 8, applies each to the proper line on the news sheet 24, until the female die is complete.

Usually the. press, is then ready-for oper tion because the 45 angles take care of most fold lines and the narrow str ips 26 are so narrow that no cutting away is usually needed although it is easy to cut the, ends of the strip H8 at other angles to suit special conditions if occasion arises.

When the female die units are complete, the

The-tape 28 'may varywi'dei Other widths and thicknesses will often be preferable for a particular job in hand,

A "dummy sheet of press is ready for operation by revolving its cylinder and feeding at the proper time cardboard blanks or sheets which come through, to the opposite side, cut by knives II to form the outline of the desired blanks and creased by creasing rules [2 which have forced the cardboard blanks into the channels l9, so that blanks are easily folded at the crease lines.

It will be seen that the present invention provides an inexpensive means and method for building up a makeready. The channels therein will be of accurate uniform width and accurately positioned by reason of the transparent bottom. Harder materials may be used for the shoulders of the channels. A substantial saving in time is achieved and relatively unskilled labor may be utilized. The resulting box blanks will have scores of uniform thickness and more accurately positioned without cracks. The boxes will glue straighter and run better on high speed automatic machines, and be more satisfactory because of uniform score widths. The makeready is sturdy in construction and fully capable of withstanding the rough usage to which it may be subjected.

As various changes may be made in the form, construction and arrangement of the parts herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention and without sacrificing any of its advantages, it is to be understood that all matter herein is to be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

Having thus described one embodiment of the invention in some detail, what is claimed is:

1. A flexible strip adapted to form a creasing female die including a flexible tape carrying an adhesive backing, a pair of spaced upstanding strips secured to the flexible tape and forming a channel between the strips adapted to cooperate with a creasing rule to form a crease in cardboard, and a strippable backing covering the adhesive.

2. A flexible strip adapted to form a creasing female die including a transparent flexible tape carrying an adhesive backing, a pair of spaced upstanding strips secured to the flexible tape and forming a channel between the strips adapted to cooperate with a creasing rule to form a crease in cardboard, and a strippable backing covering the adhesive.

3, A press cylinder carrying a female creasing die, said die including two spaced shoulder strips, a transparent strip on which the spaced strips are mounted, a paper cover for the cylinder, and an adhesive adhering the transparent strip to the cover.

4. A press cylinder carrying a female creasing die, said die including a plurality of sets of two spaced shoulder strips, said sets out at 45 angles to crease cardboard, and a transparent adhesivefaced strip to which each of the pairs of shoulder strips adhere and which holds them to the jacket.

7. A press roller carrying a metal jacket to face a cutting knife, a creasing makeready on the outer surface of the jacket, said creasing makeready including a set of pairs of spaced shoulder strips meeting at a suitable angle and adapted to cooperate with a creasing rule to crease cardboard, and a transparent adhesive-faced strip to which each of the pairs of shoulder strips adhere and'whioh holds them to the jacket.

8. The process of building a makeready female crease die on a surface which includes marking on the surface the center lines of the creases, and applying to said center lines a tape carrying spaced shoulder ridges adapted to cooperate with a creasing rule to crease cardboard compressed between the rule and the channel between the ridges.

9. The process of building a makeready female crease die on a surface to cooperate with creasing ruler on a facing surface which includes pressing the surfaces together with carbon paper between them to mark crease lines for the makeready, and laying on the marked crease lines and securing to said surface a tape carrying spaced shoulder ridges adapted to cooperate with the creasing at their joining ends, a transparent strip on which the spaced strips are mounted, a paper cover for the cylinder, and an adhesive adhering the sets of strips to the cover.

5. A press roller carrying a metal jacket to face a cutting knife, a creasing makeready on the outer surface of the jacket, said creasing makeready including a pair of spaced shoulder strips adapted to cooperate with a creasing rule to crease cardboard and a transparent adhesivefaced strip to which the shoulder strips adhere and which holds them to the jacket.

6. A press roller carrying a metal acket to face a cutting knife, a creasing makeready on the outer surface of the jacket, said creasing makeready including a set of pairs of spaced shoulder strips adapted to cooperate with a creasing rule rule to compress and crease cardboard between them.

10. The process of building a makeready female crease die on a surface to cooperate with creasing ruler on a facing surface which includes bringing the surfaces together with carbon paper between them to mark crease lines for the makeready, and laying on the marked crease lines a transparent adhesive tape carrying spaced shoulder ridges adapted to cooperate with the creasing rule to compress and crease cardboard between them.

11. The process of building a makeready female crease die on a surface to cooperate with a creasing ruler on a facing surface which includes bringing the surfaces together with carbon paper between them and backed with cardboard to mark crease lines for the makeready, and laying on the marked crease lines a transparent adhesive tape carrying spaced shoulder ridges adapted to cooperate with the creasing rule to compress and crease cardboard between them.

12. The process of building a makeready female crease die on a cylinder which includes covering the cylinder jacket with a paper cover, rotating the cylinder to cooperate with facing crease rules with carbon paper between the rules and the cylinder to mark crease lines on the paper, applying to the paper an adhesive tape carrying spaced shoulder ridges so that the marked lines fall in the channels between the ridges and the crease rules fall in the channels as the cylinders rotate.

13. The process of building a makeready female crease die on a cylinder which includes covering the cylinder jacket with a paper cover, rotating the cylinder to cooperate with facing crease rules with carbon paper between the rules and the cylinder to mark crease lines on the paper, applying to the paper a transparent adhesive tape carrying spaced shoulder ridges so that the marked lines are seen in the channels between the ridges and the crease rules will fall in the channels as the cylinders rotate.

14. The process of building a makeready female crease die on a cylinder which includes covering the cylinder jacket with a paper cover, ro-

tating the cylinder ,to cooperate with facing crease rules with carbon paper backed by a sheet of cardboard between the rules and the cylinder to mark crease lines on the paper, applying to the paper a transparent adhesive tape carrying spaced shoulder ridges so that the marked lines are seen in the channels between the ridges and the crease rules will fall in the channels as the cylinder rotates.

15. The process of building a makeready female crease die on a cylinder which includes covering the cylinder jacket with a paper cover, rotating the cylinder to cooperate with facing crease rules on a flat bed with carbon paper backed by a sheet of cardboard between the bed and the cylinder'to mark crease lines on 1e paper, applying to the paper a transparent adhesive tape carrying spaced shoulder ridges so that the marked lines are seen in the channels betweenthe ridges and. the crease rules will fall in the channels as the cylinder rotates with the reciprocating flat bed.

GORDON I-I. DALSEMER.

- REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS OTHER REFERENCES The Practice of Presswork by Craig R. Spicher, 2nd. Ed., 1929 (published by the author in Chicago) 

